McCrudden was arrested at Newark-Liberty International Airport last January following a long list of threats against government regulators, capped off by an “execution” list he posted on his website.

The list targeted 47 officials including Securities and Exchange Commission chief Mary Schapiro and Gary Gensler, the head of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

“I wrote provocative language on my website that could have been perceived as threatening,” McCrudden told the judge, according to Bloomberg News. “I would never intentionally hurt or cause bodily harm to another human being.”

In late 2010, McCrudden anonymously e-mailed a high-ranking official with the National Futures Association, threatening to hire hit men to kill and torture him.

“What you will be surprised about is how long it’s going to take you to die,” McCrudden wrote to NFA official Dan Driscoll. “I have researched some talented people who have agreed to help me towards this end, for money, of course. They are trained professionals and it has cost me a lot of money, but it will be well worth it.”

McCrudden initially denied making the threats but later confessed and pleaded guilty in July just as opening arguments in his criminal trial were set to start.